Fundamental Role of Cereals in Global Agriculture

Cereals, the dried seeds of cultivated grasses belonging to the family Gramineae, are fundamental to global agriculture. This family includes wheat, rye, barley, corn, oats, grain sorghum, and millet. Buckwheat, although not a true cereal, is often grouped with them due to its similar uses and characteristics.

The cultivation and use of cereals predate recorded history, with evidence from archaeological sites indicating their use in early civilizations. In regions such as Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, wheat, barley, and millets were staple crops. Similarly, the cultures of India, China, and Japan were heavily reliant on rice cultivation. In the Americas, the Inca, Maya, and Aztec civilizations thrived on the cultivation of corn (maize), the only cereal native to this region.

Cereals have historically been and continue to be vital due to their ability to provide inexpensive food energy. They are adaptable and can be cultivated in diverse climates around the world. High yields per acre make cereals a reliable food source, and their ability to be stored for extended periods adds to their utility. Additionally, cereals can be transported economically, further contributing to their status as a staple food.

Modern advancements in agriculture have continued to enhance cereal production. Innovations such as genetically modified crops, improved irrigation techniques, and sustainable farming practices have increased yields and resilience against pests and climate change. For instance, drought-resistant varieties of wheat and rice are now cultivated in regions previously unsuitable for these crops. These advancements ensure that cereals remain a cornerstone of global food security, capable of feeding a growing population while adapting to changing environmental conditions.
Fundamental Role of Cereals in Global Agriculture

Winter wheat: Remain in vegetative phase during winter

Winter wheat is a major type in the world; it is planted on approximately 43.5 million acres each year in the United States.

Wheat fields are green even before trees begin to bud, because wheat planted in autumn has already developed a strong root system before growth stops in winter.

The plants resume rapid growth in the spring as temperatures rise. The head of the wheat plant, which contains the kernels, develops at the tip of the stem.

The stem grows rapidly, pushing the head up and out of the top leaf sheath. After the head emerges, flowering occurs and the kernels begin to develop.

After the kernels have developed fully and filled, the leaves and stem lose their green color and the kernels quickly dry.

Winter wheat survives cold winters remarkably well. Except under most severe conditions when a snow blanket is lacking, wheat planted in the autumn ‘tiller’ well in the spring, that is produce many stalks and therefore many seeds.
Winter wheat: Remain in vegetative phase during winter

Crop of buckwheat

Buckwheat belongs to the family Polygonaceae. Common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) has been a crop of secondary importance in many countries.

It has persisted through centuries of civilization and enters into the agricultures of nearly every country where cereals are cultivated. Buckwheat is a plant cultivated for its grain-like seeds and also used as a cover crop. Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat, as it is not a grass.

This plant makes an aromatic flower and subsequently the buckwheat groats which are small trianglep0shaped grain-like seeds covered by a hard shell.

In the United States the two buckwheat varieties are the common and Tartary types. The color can be anywhere from a tan-pink hue to brown. Buckwheat so also sold as roasted kasha, which is known for its subtler flavor.

Tartary buckwheat is known in various localities under such names as Duckwheat, Rye buckwheat, Marino, Mountain, Siberian, Wild Goose, Hull-less and Bloom-less.

The seed of buckwheat is cooked like rice or made into flour for the preparation of noodles, pancakes, porridge, cakes and biscuits.
Crop of buckwheat

Cereal crop of millet

Millets are native to Africa or Asia and have been cultivated for more than 6000 years.

Millets consists several grass, it does refer to a single grain. Millet is the collective name for a number of cereal species of importance as food crops in tropical and subtropical countries or as forage crops in more northern climates.

Millets grows well in arid regions with poor soils and are valued for their relatively high protein content among the cereals.

Important millet species include: Eleusine coracana (finger millet), Setaria italica (foxtail millet), Echinochloa crus-galli (Japanese barnyard millet), Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet), and Panicum miliaceum (proso millet).

Finger millet was domesticated in north eastern tropical Africa. It is now a staple in the eastern and central parts of the continents.

Millet forms only 1.5% of the total global cereal crop and is primarily grown for food.

In some parts of Africa and India, where millet has for centuries been an important cereal crop, the grain had multiple applications.

It may be boiled and pounded into a porridge or mush, or it can be ground into flour, formed into thin disks with water, then cooked on a hot surface to make one form of the Indian flatbread called chapatis.
Cereal crop of millet

Rye cereal in general

Rye is a cereal grass that is second only to wheat in world popularity for bread baking, It has strong hearty flavor in bread and as a cereal.

Botanically name: Secale cereal L. The word ‘rye’ traces to the Old English ryge and seems similar to the Old High German rocko and Lithuanian rugys.

Whole rye flour is dark and contains most of the nutrients of rye berries. Light rye flour is a refined product.

Rye grains resemble those of wheat, but are longer and less plump, varying in color from yellowish brown to greenish gray.

Cracked rye is crushed rye berries. It can be cooked like cracked wheat or oats, as a breakfast cereal. Rolled rye flakes are produced by heating rye berries until soft and flattening them with steel rollers.

Rye is used to produce crackers and rye flakes are used as a hamburgers extender. In the United States, however, one of the main uses for rye is rye whiskey.

The health effects of rye have been the target of intensive research during the last 15 years. Rye is a good source of dietary fiber, phenolic compounds, vitamins, trace elements and minerals.

Rye cereal in general

The Economy of Cereal Grains

Of all the plants on which humans have depended for food, those that produce the cereal grains are by far the most important, as they have been since earliest recorded time.

Cereal grains are the seeds of cultivated grasses that include wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, rice, sorghum, and millet.

There are a number of reasons why cereals have been so important in our diet. They can be grown in a variety of areas, some even in adverse soil and climatic conditions.

They give high yields per acre as compared to most other crops, and once harvested, their excellent stored stability combined with their nutritional value makes them the most desirable of foods for holding in reserve.

They are easy to package and transport and they can be used to produce a large variety of highly desirable foods both for humans and animals, as well as beverages for human consumption.

Cereal grains are the most important source of the world’s total food. Rice alone is reported to supply the major part of the diet for more than one half of the word’s population.

Cereal grains are the staple food of the peoples of developing countries, providing them, with about 75% of their total caloric intake and about 67% of their total protein intake.

The grains are eaten in many ways, sometimes as a paste or other preparation of the seed, more often milled and further processed into flour, starch, oil, bran, syrup, sugar, dried breakfast forms, and so forth. They are also used to feed the animals that provide us with meat, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and a host of other foods.
The Economy of Cereal Grains

Small Millets

Small Millets
Small millets are small grained cereals mainly grown in arid, semi arid or montane zones as rain fed crops under marginal and sub-marginal conditions of soil fertility and moisture. Small millets are important to global agriculture and are a major cereal crops, grown in fairly large areas of South Asia, China, the former USSR and Africa. They are also found in areas of the United States and Europe on a limited scale.

Finger millet is the principal small millet species grown in South Asia, followed by kodo millet, foxtail millet, little millet, proso millet and barnyard millet, in that order. Foxtail millet and pros millet are important in China and the latter is grown extensively in southwestern USSR. In Africa, finger millet, teff and fonio have local importance.

The average global productivity of small millets is almost 1 t/ha. There has been a trend in the last two decades to replace these crops with major cereal like maize and wheat, which has been a factor in the reduction of area under these crops. Presently, small millets are cultivated in areas where they produce a more dependable harvest than other crop, this has been largely responsible for their continued presence and cultivation in many parts of the world there is now an increasing realization of this fact and a greater awareness that these crops merit more research and development.
Small Millets

Brewing and Flavoring with Malt

Brewing and Flavoring with Malt
Brewing
For brewing, the whole malt is ground and cooked with water and frequently other cereal adjuncts in a process known as mashing. The products of this are wort, the distinctively flavored dilute extract in which the complex carbohydrates of the cereal mash have been enzymatically converted to fermentable sugars, the wort is boiled to sterilized it; hops and yeast are added; and the mixture is fermented to make beer.

Flavoring with Malt
Apart from its function in brewing beer, malt is a desirable flavor in other food products, with or without the enzyme activity. Barley malt can be milled to separate the hulls and provide a meal or flour products for use in dry formulation, or it can be extracted with water (as in mashing) and the resulting extract concentrated to a syrup or dehydrated to a powder for use in flavor formulations. In formulating with any of these preparations, care must be taken to specify whether the desired product is one that retains its enzyme activity – i.e., is “diastatic” – or does not retain enzyme activity (nondiastic). Diastase was the original name for malt amylase, in use before it was known to consist of both alpha and beta amylase. Nondiastatic products are usually used for flavoring breakfast cereal, as otherwise an unwelcome liquefaction of the starchy components of a formula may occur.

Malt syrup is normally a brown viscous liquid with poor flow properties that is typically diluted with water before being added to the grain. It is available in degree of color and flavor concentration and results in an attractive light brown color developing in cereals during cooking, However, the use of too much in a formula may result in bitterness in the finished product.
Brewing and Flavoring with Malt

Malting Process of Barley

Malting Process of Barley
The fundamental purpose of malting is to allow the development of the alpha-amylase activity that accompanies the sprouting of all cereal grains. When enzyme activity is at maximum, the sprouted grains are kilned and dried so as to stop further growth and render the sprout friable without destroying the enzyme activity developed in the kernel. The dried kernels after removal of the sprouts form the malt. In addition to enzyme activity, it has a characteristics flavor developed during kilning.

Therefore the malting process is a combination of two processes; notably the sprouting process (germination process) and kiln drying process. Malting barley is used to produce beer, distilled alcohol, malt syrup, malted milk, flavorings and breakfast foods. Malting barley is a high quality barley and also frequently used for animal feed and human nutrition.

In the process of making beer, malted barley is the source of the sugars which are fermented into beer. The malting process allows the grain to partially germinate, making the seed’s resources available to the brewer. During germination enzymes are released and new enzymes are created, that break down the endosperm’s protein/carbohydrate matrix into smaller carbohydrate, amino acids and lipids, and open up the seed’s starch reserves. The grain is then dried by kilning with warm water, which fixes the properties of the malt and imbues malt with its unique flavor.
Malting Process of Barley

Cereal in general

Cereal in general
Cereals are the dried seeds of the cultivated grasses, which belong to the family Gramineae. They include wheat, rye, barley, corn, oats, grain sorghum, and millet. Buckwheat, although not a true cereal, is usually included with them.

The cultivation and use of cereals antedates the recorded history of man. Excavations in early centers of civilization have indicated that one or another of the above cereals were known and used by the people of these cultures. The civilizations of Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome were founded on the production of wheat, barley, and the millets. The cultures of India, China, and Japan were dependent on the rice crop. The Inca, Maya, and Aztec cultures were based on the growing of corn (maize), which is apparently the only cereal indigenous to the Americas.

The cereals are, in general, the cheapest sources of food energy and can be grown anywhere in the world. They give high yields per acre, can be stored for relatively long periods of time, and can be transported cheaply.
Cereal in general